Known tape printing apparatus are disclosed in EP-A-322918 and EP-A-322919 (Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha) and EP-A-267890 (Varitronic). The printers each include a cassette receiving bay for receiving a cassette or tape holding case. In EP-A-267890, the tape holding case houses an ink ribbon and a substrate tape, the latter comprising an upper image receiving layer secured to a backing layer by an adhesive. In EP-A-322918 and EP-A-322919, the tape holding case houses an ink ribbon, a transparent image receiving tape and a double sided adhesive tape which is secured at one of its adhesive coated sides to the image tape after printing and which has a backing layer peelable from its other adhesive coated side. With both these apparatus, the image transfer medium (ink ribbon) and the image receiving tape (substrate) are in the same cassette.
It has also been proposed by the present applicants in, for example, EP-A-578372 to house the ink ribbon and the substrate tape in separate cassettes.
In all of these cases, the image receiving tape passes in overlap with the ink ribbon to a print zone consisting of a fixed print head and a platen against which the print head can be pressed to cause an image to transfer from the ink ribbon to the image receiving tape. There are many ways of doing this, including dry lettering or dry film impression, but the most usual way currently is by thermal printing where the print head is heated and the heat causes ink from the ink ribbon to be transferred to the image receiving tape.
In other known tape printing apparatuses, so-called direct thermal tapes are used, in which an image is created directly onto the direct thermal tape without the interposition of an ink ribbon cassette. Elements of a print head are heated, and the heat causes chemicals within the direct thermal tape to react and produce an image in or on the tape.
The image receiving tape may be in the form of a continuous tape. An image is printed and the tape is then cut by the label printer to the appropriate length. It is also known that the image receiving tape may comprise a backing layer on which there is a plurality of discrete or die cut labels.
The printing apparatuses may be hand held or desktop stand-alone printers. Alternatively each printing apparatus may comprise a printer connected to a personal computer (PC), or the like.
Known hand held or stand-alone printing apparatuses have displays which an apparatus (such as a controller, processor, chip, or chip set) can cause to display information to help a user create a label for printing. Similarly, known printers for connection to a PC receive print data defining an image to be printed onto a label from the PC. In that case, the PC can include a display that such an apparatus (which is usually also part of the PC) can cause to display information to help a user create a label for printing by way of the print head of the printer connected to the PC.
A problem associated with these known printing apparatuses is that, although the displays can be used to add and manipulate data fields for inclusion in a label to be printed, several steps are required to be performed by a user before the data field is located at a desired position relative to an image representative of the label. Several steps are also required to alter the display to show a particular portion of a label being created.
It is possible using these known devices to create labels of different types, the different types of labels having different dimensions or shapes. It is also known to arrange data on labels according to different predetermined layouts or templates. However, it can often be difficult for a user to easily find a desired template to use when creating a label, and/or for a user to select a desired label type suitable for a particular duty.
Similarly, although labels, once designed, can be saved in memory in known printers and PCs, it can be difficult for a user to easily find a particular saved or previously printed label e.g. to allow them to then reprint the saved or previously printed label.
Moreover, when ordering stock of label supplies, it is often not easy for a user or consumer to identify and successfully order a desired type of label supply. Although different types of labels and label supplies can have different respective identifying codes to distinguish them, errors of transcription can occur leading to the user ordering the wrong labels. Furthermore, some suppliers of labels are known to offer labels of relatively poor quality. Poor quality labels may accept ink in an inferior way compared to better quality labels, leading to poor print quality. They may even cause a printer to jam or otherwise malfunction. Usually a user will not know of the quality of a label they have ordered until they have received and used it.
Furthermore, addresses printed onto mail or onto labels adhered to mail often take a format which is not readily comprehendible by the postal organisation(s) which will have to deliver them. This can lead to delay in such mail being delivered, and in the worse cases could lead to the mail being delivered to an address other than that intended.
When looking for technical support or other information relating to a printer that a user is currently using, it can be difficult to find the printer's exact product name or reference code which is needed to identify e.g. the page of the manufacturer's website relevant to that printer. Furthermore, if the user needs to write down the name or code before viewing the website and using the information written down, errors of transcription can also occur, leaving the user unable to find the correct page on the website for the printer concerned.
If several printers are connected to a user's computer, when the user wishes to print using one of the printers, it can be difficult to identify which of several printers listed on the screen is the desired printer.
It is an aim of some embodiments of the present invention to address one or more of the described problems.